Items tagged with Broadwell

Back in March, Intel launched its Xeon Processor E5 v4 family of products, based on the Broadwell-EP core. We had the chance to evaluate a dual Xeon E5-2697 v4-based system with a total of 36 cores (72 Threads) and detailed some of the changes and new features in Broadwell-EP. As powerful as that 36-core system was, the E5 v4 family is not Intel’s top-end server offering. That designation belongs to the Xeon E7 v4 product family being announced today, which typically features more cores, more cache, and support for additional sockets.Xeon E7 v4 Processor, Top And BottomThough they are a different...Read more...

CES is a distant memory now, but we’re still seeing new products arrive that were announced in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year. One of those is the Dell Latitude 13 7000 series, the latest in the company's line of business laptops. The 13-inch ultrabook landed several awards at CES for its sleek design and promised to add some spice to the staid business laptop market. At long last, the Latitude 13 7370 is here.Dell clearly pulled some key features from its popular XPS consumer series when designing its latest Latitude. Carbon fiber makes an appearance on certain models and all Latitude...Read more...

With blue skies and warmer weather on its way, it's hard to not get excited for summer. We just saw NVIDIA launch its latest mid-range GPU, the GeForce GTX 1070, and we know that AMD's Polaris will be shown off soon as well. Those launches alone are huge, but Intel wasn't about to be drowned out by them. At Computex, the company finally took the veil off of its latest enthusiast processors built on the Broadwell-E microarchitecture. If you're interested in getting the nitty gritty on all of what Broadwell-E brings to the table, we'd encourage you to read through Marco's excellent write-up, where...Read more...

We've said it before and we'll say it again, it's ridiculously difficult to keep a secret in the Internet era. That applies to companies both small and big—even Intel isn't immune from this. Case in point, you're not supposed to know this yet, but Intel is preparing to launch a new flagship Xeon D processor.It's the Xeon D-1571 based on Intel's 14nm Broadwell architecture. Intel hasn't announced the CPU yet, but for a short while, it appeared on an updated CPU price list. Intel yanked the price list offline and replaced it with an old one, but not before the folks at CPU World could screenshot...Read more...

Most Chromebooks that hit the market don't tend to impress by way of their specs, and there's a good reason for it: most of them are inexpensive. But, inexpensive doesn't have to equal boring, something Toshiba's upcoming Chromebook 2 easily proves. At the forefront, this new Chromebook will feature Intel's 5th-gen Core processors, aka Broadwell, which in addition to providing a performance boost also delivers improved battery life (8.5-hours, in this notebook). The $329.99 model features a Celeron processor, while the $429.99 uses Core i3. Neither are high-performance in the grand scheme, but...Read more...

We’ve always been enamored with Zotac’s tiny Zbox mini PCs for quite some time now, but the company just may have outdone itself with the new Zbox Magnus EN970. For starters, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way — you won’t find an Intel Skylake processor under the hood on the Zbox Magnus EN970. Instead you’ll find a completely competent Broadwell-based, dual-core Core i5-5200U CPU processor. But the magic happens when we move to the graphics power that is lurking within this pint-sized machine, which measures just 8.3” x 8” x 2.1”. Inside you’ll find an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphics card...Read more...

We've got a fairly well defined set of expectations with today's current crop of ultrabooks. What you trade away in performance, you usually gain in convenience with these ultra-light, ultra-portable, and easy to carry laptops. We wouldn't make an ultrabook our primary gaming system or video-encoding cruncher, for example, but we would definitely carry one around with us for everyday computing tasks like Web browsing, managing spreadsheets, some Netflix, and maybe a bit of light gaming (sorry, Witcher 3 fans). We were pleasantly surprised to see Acer's Aspire S7-393 perform so well on most...Read more...

We have covered Intel’s Broadwell microarchitecture extensively over the last few months. The relatively high-performance and low-power characteristics of Broadwell make it a good fit for a wide range of devices and systems. And as such, Broadwell has found its way into everything from notebooks and tablets, to an array of All-In-Ones and Intel’s own NUC ultra-small-form-factor systems.Broadwell, however, just recently—as in the last few weeks—made it to the DIY and full-sized desktop market. 14nm Broadwell processors weren’t originally destined for the channel, but Intel ultimately changed course...Read more...

Had Paul Revere been a computer geek living in the modern era, he'd have just flown in from Computex and hopped on his Harley so he could cruise the streets yelling, "Iris Pro Graphics is coming! Iris Pro Graphics is coming!" That's because Intel today fleshed out its fifth generation Core processor lineup with 10 new desktop and mobile Broadwell-H CPUs, each infused with Iris Pro Graphics 6200. The unofficial hope is that these new CPUs will hold users over until Skylake arrives. Intel's also aiming at a segment that is content to roll with integrated graphics, but want something better than what's...Read more...

GIGABYTE has just announced that it's rolled out EFI updates to its entire range of Z97/H97 motherboards to add support for Intel's upcoming 5th-gen Core processors, "Broadwell". To grab the update, simply hit up GIGABYTE's support page and search for your motherboard model. You may also be able to update if you happen to have GIGABYTE's @BIOS utility installed, but from experience, that's hit-or-miss. While Intel's 5th-gen Core processors hit mobile earlier this year, there's been some delays on the desktop side, with rumors putting the launch at June - something GIGABYTE's new updates add some...Read more...

On account of the fact that Intel's 5th-gen Core processors still haven't hit the desktop, it's quite something to realize that Skylake, the 6th-gen, is right around the corner. Marco talked a bit about Broadwell's desktop counterpart early last month, and overall, it's worth looking forward to. Does that mean you'll want to upgrade from Haswell? Almost certainly not. While it's undoubtedly going to offer some nice benefits over Haswell, with good help from its shrink to 14nm, Skylake is really going to be the "big one". For enthusiasts, it's going to be Skylake-S that will garner the most attention....Read more...

ASUS took the wraps off its ROG GR6, a tiny PC with some serious hardware. The system is meant to be your LAN party go-to or a full-time resident of a desk with limited space and it’s loaded with style. It’s also loaded with Windows 8.1 and Steam Big Picture, so can bring a controller with you to the next LAN event. The ROG GR6 feature an Intel Core i5 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics, as well as 8GB of memory and an SSD. It also has two USB ports on the front, as well as headphone and mic jacks. At the back, it has a lock port, additional USB and audio ports (including SPDIF), a...Read more...

Gigabyte's Brix line-up of small form factor systems is the company’s answer to the teeny, tiny NUC from Intel. These ridiculously small PCs pack all the power of a laptop, or a budget desktop, into a box small enough to fit in your palm. These wee PCs are marketed to non-gamers and people who need a basic, no-nonsense PC with a tiny footprint. Think people who need a PC for a kiosk or for basic, day to day computing. These little brick PCs are basically made to mount behind a monitor, and use mobile parts and solid-state components to keep the noise and heat to a minimum. One big difference between...Read more...

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon has been through a few revisions now and it's easy to see why the product sells so well and why Lenovo continues to invest in the model lineage. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon combines the sleek profile of a mainstream ultrabook with the durability and utility of Lenovo's classic ThinkPad line of business-class notebooks. With arguably some of the best notebook keyboard and trackpad setups in the market, the ThinkPad line is built for road warriors and demanding professionals first, but the X1 Carbon straddles the line with light-weight composite carbon fiber construction...Read more...